gopherhole/paranoidsbible/The Internet Detox.txt

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2019-03-26 22:55:34 -04:00
The Internet Detox
Non-profit and free for redistribution
Written on September 1st | 2016
Published on September 1st | 2016
For entertainment and research purposes only
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DISCLAIMER
The Paranoid's Bible and its writers hold no responsibility for the acts of others.
The Paranoids Bible is for research and entertainment purposes only.
Please visit our blog for more PDFs and information: https://www.paranoidsbible.tumblr.com/
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Contents
DISCLAIMER 2
Preface 4
Starting Simple 5
Slightly More Difficult 6
Learn to Ignore 7
Idle Hands… 8
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Preface
Whether your biological clock is screwed up and youre suffering from IAD (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_addiction_disorder) or that nasty artificial blue light(http://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-light-has-a-dark-side), a lot of people have many reasons as to why theyd like to learn how to lessen their online use. Like, for example, some people will want to lessen it because its distracting them from important responsibilities or some people want to lessen it because of their data plans
Regardless of the reason: You need to detox.
Learning to take a break from the internet and technology altogether for at least an hour a day can help you greatly reduce your stress be it physical or mental. It can also help you learn to not so readily rely on technology or the internet to do such frivolous things like research, socialize or try to remember a songs lyrics.
The physical wellness aspect alone is a great reason to take a break, especially with eye strain, popcorn brain(https://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/06/23/tech.popcorn.brain.ep/index.html), the strain on your back or even your posture. However these things are minor when you take into account that war is becoming less about bloodshed and explosives and more about societal contagions, ruining the other sides technology (https://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/12/17/russian-general-says-new-weapons-will-neutralize-us-shield.html) and grinding infrastructure to a halt.
It doesnt matter if you cant win a ground battle or the enemy starts picking up guerilla tactics, theyve no internet, electricity or phone. The modern man will have great difficulty, especially if theyre from the West, if the internet is dead.
And thats why you, the average user, should look into lessening your dependency on the internet and take a break every so often, even if it is a micro-break.
The internet wont always be in the Wests hands, especially since Obama is trying his hardest to allow non-US entities to take over ICANN (https://archive.fo/H7vhz). This means youll have an increased likelihood of upsetting someone (whos thin skinned) and breaking some obscure law where youll end up fine, having your internet cut, or worse…
So, if youre interested, for any reason, read on!
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Starting Simple
No matter the reason, taking a break from both the internet and technology can be quite helpful in both saving time and reducing your stress. Some people simply carry too much stress because of how their posture is or because theyre obsessed with keeping tabs on their internet profile a bit too much.
The simplest thing to do without going cold turkey would be to set at least four hours aside a day in your schedule. It doesnt matter if youll use these four hours or not. Just setting them aside will be a great accomplishment as you know youre somewhat committed to reducing your internet consumption.
Now purchase yourself a journal or notebook. Doesnt matter if its college rule or not. Youll be using it to keep a diary of your internet use. This will help you organize your day and how much time youve spent online.
During the day, as you use the internet, regardless for what reason, make a note of how long you spent on it. Once the day is over,and you arent bothered with school or work anymore for that period of time, add up how much time youve spent on the internet.
Keep this tally of time spent every day, for we want to see just how much time weve spent online. As we tally up the minutes to hours spent, we want to take each hour of time spent online and reward ourselves with 15 minutes of time spent away from the internet.
Think of it as this way: Every four hours equals an hour of time you need to spend offline.
We arent telling you to cut your computer time or TV time, for now. Simply spending time with the modem unplugged will help condition your mind to understand you dont always need to be connected.
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Slightly More Difficult
We all know that, to an extent, technology, especially computers, produce some radiation. These EMFs may not cause any health issues, which we know of, however there exists much concern about it. There are always studies conducted by the WHO (https://www.who.int/peh-emf/about/WhatisEMF/en/index1.html), among other groups, who want to assuage the publics concerns and fears.
If there are health issues or not, it doesnt hurt to step up your detox regiment after awhile to include turning off your computer and phone for a few minutes to an hour a day. Think of it as simply quieting the devices around you so that you can have a bit of “me time” and relax without interruptions.
Unlike the previous chapter, it may seem boring to not use the computer or your phone. You could watch some TV, or go outside… maybe read a book?
You know, supposedly reading a book helps you live longer (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/08/09/the-best-reason-for-reading-book-lovers-live-longer-say-scientists/).
Adding that to your hour (or more) break from the internet and internet connected devices could help you relax even more and even expand your mind. Doesnt matter your choice of reading material, just spending less time online and not using internet connected devices can help you worry less about what others say online.
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Learn to Ignore
If theres one thing that hinders people and prolongs their addiction to the internet its the fact they cant let go of the digital discourse. Youve people who spent years trying to dox or belittle someone that they believe wronged them, no matter how silly their reason.
This “discourse” is nothing but internet drama, which means its useless and doesnt matter. The miniscule portion of the worlds populace that sees something saying something bad about you, or someone youre currently acquainted with, is so tiny that its near impossible for it to affect your life offline, especially if you followed the Paranoids Bible (and other guides) and lessened your data footprint.
Yes, it doesnt matter.
And no, your ego or so called disorder doesnt excuse the fact that you, the reader, may just be a tad too obsessed with arbitrary numbers and digital discourse. Take a deep, slow breath through your nose, exhale through your mouth and learn to ignore what others think.
Not everyone is going to like you, share the same opinions or even care about what you have to say. And guess what, this is a fact of life you cant ignore or try to remove through lashing out in a semi-psychotic manner.
Learn that the internet is not life, and social media isnt socializing.
Go outside, join a club or group activity… take a few hours away from the internet and learn to forgive, forget and ignore.
The amount of time that we, as a society, waste on petty online arguments could be better used and spent on learning useful skills or trades, like carpentry or farming. Dont waste your time, energy and brain power on something as idiotic as trying to prove someone wrong over useless opinions like whos the best character from a show.
Learn to ignore…
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Idle Hands…
Remember what we said about learning a trade? It doesnt help to pick one up or get into a hobby. If youre idle and grow bored, you seek to either fill time with the internet or excessive eating. Dont fall into this trap of modern life, learn to self discipline yourself and take up an mindless activity like knitting or sewing. Learn a trade like carpentry or metallurgy. Learn a skill that can help you in the long run of your life.
If you cant or dont want to pick a trade or a hobby, exercise. Take a walk. Lift some weights. Do some cardio. Do something that isnt fueled by technology and electricity. By wasting all your time not dedicated to school or work on the computer or glued to a smart phone you end up putting yourself into a vicious cycle where youve less energy, gain weight and look quite sickly.
Try to pace yourself with technology and learn to not use it so much. While many will throw up the newspaper or radio and how people became glued to those, were simply not talking about those. Were talking about todays day and age. We need to pull ourselves away from the technology for a handful of minutes or hours and try to detox so we dont become too reliant on the internet or technology in general.
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Afterword
This isnt about taking your toys away from your or the idiocy of social media. Its about helping you learn to not be so reliant on technology. Its about helping you improve your health and lessen your overall stress. Itd also help you stay ahead of the curve in case anything happens to the Wests infrastructure. It should concern you how we dont have any redundancies in place or backups in case technology and/or electricity gets knocked out somehow.
The Wests infrastructure is quite horrendous and a handful of people can ruin a citys phone and electricity quite easily. This means they can ruin the internet, too. If this happens youll have a hard time coping. Learn to further yourself with a trade or useful skill. It doesnt hurt to be in better physical or mental health than the average person, either.